Twenty - I Timothy - 3

3:1  How true is that saying! When a man aspires to be a Presiding- Officer in the Church, he is ambitious for a noble task.

3:2  The Presiding-Officer should be a man of blameless character; a faithful husband; living a temperate, discreet, and well-ordered life; hospitable, and a skillful teacher,

3:3  not addicted to drink or brawling, but of a forbearing and peaceable disposition, and not a lover of money;

3:4  he should be a man who rules his own household well, and whose children are kept under control and are well-behaved.

3:5  If a man does not know how to rule his own household, how can he take charge of the Church of God?

3:6  The Presiding-Officer should not be a recent convert, that he may not be blinded by pride and fall under the same condemnation as the Devil.

3:7  He should also be well spoken of by outsiders, that he may not incur censure and so fall into the snares of the Devil.

3:8  So, too, Assistant-Officers should be serious and straightforward men, not given to taking much drink or to questionable money-making,

3:9  but men who hold the deep truths of the Faith and have a clear conscience.

3:10  They should be tested first, and only appointed to their Office if no objection is raised against them.

3:11  It should be the same with the women. They should be serious, not gossips, sober, and trustworthy in all respects.

3:12  Assistant-Officers should be faithful husbands, and men who rule their children and their households well.

3:13  Those who have filled that post with honour gain for themselves an honorable position, as well as great confidence through the faith that they place in Christ Jesus.

3:14  I am writing this to you, though I hope that I shall come to see you before long;

3:15  but in case I should be delayed, I want you to know what your conduct ought to be in the Household of God, which is the Church of the Living God--the pillar and stay of the Truth.

3:16  Yes, and confessedly wonderful are the deep truths of our religion; for--'He was revealed in our nature, pronounced righteous in spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, taken up into glory.'